Over 30 residents die in Cork/Kerry nursing homes in two weeks
Some of the residents who died are believed to have received their first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine and were due to receive their booster shot
Eight residents of the Bon Secours Care Village, Mount Desert, Lee Road, Cork died between January 21 and January 26. Picture: Larry Cummins.
Tue, 02 Feb, 2021 - 06:55
Neil Michael
More than 30 residents of four Cork nursing homes and a community hospital in Kerry have died in just two weeks following Covid-19 outbreaks.
At West Kerry Community Hospital in Dingle, at least eight residents have died.
Between January 21 and January 26, eight residents of the Bon Secours Care Village, also known as Mount Desert, in Cork, have died, three of whom died on January 24.
Sonas has claimed it took over two weeks for testing to occur after the first resident with symptoms was identified.
The nursing home group claims chief inspector of social services Mary Dunnion failed to take this delay into account in making her findings.
It also claims the failure of a HSE Outbreak Control Team to offer staffing support, when so many workers were out with the virus, was not taken into account in the report.
The group, which operates 11 nursing homes and four retirement villages around the country, fears the publication of the report would cause “grave reputational damage”. It was due to have been published on the website of the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) last October, but this did not occur after Sonas indicated that judicial review proceedings would be brought.